Erap's House allies support Belmonte

MANILA, Philippines - Congressmen belonging to the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada are supporting the bid of Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to become speaker of the House of Representatives.

“We allies of Erap (Estrada) have decided to support SB (Belmonte),” Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco told reporters over the weekend.

“We are six (congressmen) at PMP and two from the PDP-Laban of Vice President Jojo (Jejomar) Binay,” he said.

Their group, including Rep. Bem Noel of the party-list group An Waray and his wife Malabon Rep. Jaye Lacson-Noel, have already met with Belmonte.

Tiangco and Noel were allies in the 2007 elections when Malabon and Navotas comprised a single congressional district.

Tiangco, then Navotas mayor, supported Lacson-Noel’s congressional run against Alvin Sandoval, who was proclaimed winner.

She, however, filed an election protest against Sandoval. The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal unseated Sandoval last December and declared Lacson-Noel as the real winner in the 2007 polls.

Lacson-Noel later defeated Sandoval’s brother Ricky in the Malabon congressional race last May 10.

Ricky was a three-term representative of the previous Malabon-Navotas district.

He lost to Tiangco in the Navotas mayoral race in 2007, prompting him to transfer to Malabon, where Lacson-Noel defeated him.

Aside from Tiangco, the other PMP representatives include Estrada’s son JV Ejercito of San Juan and Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City.

Tiangco said they have three more members from Mindanao.

He said their group also includes Representatives Abigail Binay and Monique Yazmin Lagdameo of Makati City.

Belmonte now enjoys the support of several political groups in the House, including the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Nacionalista Party and party-list groups like An Waray.

Belmonte’s Liberal Party bloc now includes defectors from Lakas-Kampi-CMD. Some 27 congressmen, mostly from Lakas, took their oath as new LP members last Friday.

“A big chunk of Lakas composed of about 60 members came over to express their support for me,” Belmonte said in a television interview.

Lakas, or what remains of it after the defections, is fielding Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman against Belmonte in the race for speaker. Lagman will most likely end up as minority leader.

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo will be a member of Lagman’s minority or the new opposition.